Samuel Jackson

Currently engaged on a 12-month contract with DWP Digital, modernising the New Style Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) platform and delivering a resilient, event-driven digital service that manages the full claimant journey — from initial application and eligibility assessment through to ongoing bi-monthly payments. The system is built on a Spring Boot microservices architecture, with Apache Kafka enabling asynchronous, decoupled workflows and MongoDB providing flexible persistence of claimant state. Services follow Hexagonal (Ports and Adapters) Architecture, ensuring a clear separation between domain logic and external concerns such as messaging, persistence, and third-party integration — maximising testability, maintainability, and long-term platform evolution. The solution operates at national scale with a strong emphasis on idempotent processing, fault tolerance, and recoverability, meeting the reliability and governance requirements of a mission-critical UK public service.

Architected and delivered a high-frequency trading framework for the Betfair Exchange, built on a Spring Boot event-driven architecture and integrated with Betfair's Exchange and Streaming APIs. Designed and implemented automated trading strategies driven by proprietary real-time metrics — including Weight of Money trends, Last Traded Price dynamics, price velocity, and order flow imbalance — enabling rapid, precise, and disciplined trade execution. Leveraged Java, Spring Boot, and AWS to deliver a scalable, low-latency data processing system. Established a robust CI/CD pipeline using GitHub Actions for seamless integration, automated testing, and deployment to AWS infrastructure, ensuring high availability and reliability in dynamic betting markets.

Led the development of a fault-tolerant, real-time API service at Mosaic Smart Data, enabling seamless ingestion of complex transactional data from leading financial institutions across foreign exchange, fixed income, credit, and repo markets. Designed a serverless AWS architecture (API Gateway, Lambda, SNS/SQS/S3) with cross-region Disaster Recovery fanout, provisioned via Ansible-templated CloudFormation, ensuring zero data loss and full recoverability. Extended the core application by developing a Java and Python data pipeline that optimised enrichment and ingestion into Apache Druid, delivering measurable improvements in platform performance and end-user experience.

Advanced smart metering technology at ESG Global by developing and maintaining a critical business orchestration layer, ensuring reliable data exchange between energy suppliers and the Data Communications Company. Built using Java 11, Spring, Hibernate, MS SQL Server, RabbitMQ, and Apache NiFi, with Test-Driven Development (JUnit and Mockito) applied throughout to ensure system reliability and long-term maintainability. Owned product roadmap prioritisation, approved production change requests, and provided 3rd-line support for complex incident resolution. Adopted Agile Kanban workflows, GitFlow branching strategies, and Confluence documentation to drive team transparency and continuous delivery.

Delivered innovative Java solutions across multiple contracts during this period. At Ribby Hall Village (2018–2020), developed a Spring Boot microservice-based data warehouse integrating third-party systems (Xledger, Campaign Monitor) via REST, SOAP, and GraphQL APIs. Containerised the solution with Docker, deployed it on Google Cloud's Kubernetes Engine, and implemented a GitLab CI/CD pipeline for automated testing and deployment. At Co-op (2015–2018), enhanced the Food Retail Business Intelligence team's data warehouse with Java worker services for REST API integration, aggregating competitor pricing and weather data — adhering to Agile methodologies and TDD practices throughout.

Designed and delivered bespoke software solutions for commercial and individual clients at Trinity Logic Ltd, leveraging open-source technologies including Spring, Struts 2, Tiles, and Hibernate, deployed on MySQL-backed Tomcat and Jetty servers hosted on Linux VPS. Notable work included architecting a high-engagement social media platform for sharing venue photography across the UK, significantly boosting user interaction and platform growth. Maintained a strong focus on Agile development practices to deliver cost-effective, high-quality solutions within demanding timelines, consistently enhancing client satisfaction and company reputation.

Contributed to the development and enhancement of Sesame, a Java-based market adaptor at UBS Warburg that standardised interfaces via CORBA for seamless communication between internal trading systems and European equity and derivative exchanges. Performed rigorous bug fixing, testing, and development to ensure platform reliability and stability. Provided 3rd-line support for the London trading desk, resolving complex issues to maintain uninterrupted operations in a high-stakes financial environment.

Diploma of Higher Education — Advanced Course in Design, Manufacture and Management (ACDMM)

First Class Master of Engineering (MEng) in Mechanical Engineering

A Levels in Pure Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Engineering Drawing

GCSEs in English Language, English Literature, Mathematics, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Information Technology, Geography, French, Art, and Music